Committed to the theater
In college, caryn desai pursued acting and directing with equal intensity, before opting for directing – in which she earned an MFA. “But to tell you the truth,” she says, “it was a struggle for me to decide which area I wanted to study in the arts, because I went to art school, and I studied music and voice for six years, and I love to write.” Finally, though, “I chose theater because it combines all the art forms.
“I’m a student at heart, so I’m always doing research [on] whatever play I’m working on. I’m learning, and I love learning.”
Asked if she prefers directing plays over musicals, desai replies that it’s the quality of the work itself that matters. Even so, “I’m more drawn to plays with a historical context or an issue that I’m passionate about, that I feel is important for our audiences to hear and think about. That’s always been the role of theater.”
desai claims that she doesn’t have a favorite playwright. She does, however, have a keen interest in the ways that certain playwrights develop over the course of their careers.
“I have enjoyed watching playwrights who have matured in their works,” she says. “You take a writer like John Patrick Shanley and you look at his early writings like ‘Savage in Limbo’ and ‘Danny and the Deep Blue Sea’ and now we have ‘Doubt.’ And you watch that maturity, and their take on – I don’t want to say more important issues, but probably – bigger issues. I think that’s why it’s important for theaters to produce new writers, new work, because if they’re not supported they might not be there to mature in their field and produce something like ‘Doubt.’”
Budgets for local theaters and theater departments in schools have diminished. How has this affected theaters, not only in producing new shows but in inspiring young people to go into theater as well?
“There are many challenges in education, and I know that they’re making drastic cuts in the arts. It’s a really sad commentary on our society, and I really am concerned for the future of this country where we don’t have people that are being trained to think creatively.
“It doesn’t mean that learning to think creatively is just going to lead you into a job as an artist,” desai continues, “but where are your researchers and your inventors and your scientists?” As a recent study revealed, “corporate executives were talking about the young work force coming in and knowing their job skill – but they didn’t know how to think creatively or work as a team.
“If you’re doing a play, you all have to work together. If you’re playing in the band or singing in a choir, you’re all working together. I was blessed to go to school at a time when there were arts in the schools because for someone like me who has a passion for the arts school would have been very different. It would have been a very dark, sad experience because [the arts] are what feeds your spirit.”
Go for it
“It’s important to follow your dreams,” desai says. “It’s important to follow what you want to do with your life. And – it’s one of the things I’ve always told my students when I was teaching, because I taught college for 20 years – regret’s a bitter pill to swallow. You only get to go through once. So, if there something you want to do, do it.
“If you want to be an actor, nobody said it’ll be easy. And there may come a time when you decide that that’s really a difficult life and you really don’t want to live that way. At least you’ll know you made that decision.”
Hard work and tough choices apply equally to herself and to her colleagues on the technical and production end. “I want to work with people that demand the best. Because if you don’t, you won’t get it.” There’s no room for complacency here.
“People are living longer,” desai continues; “they’re going back to school and learning something new and starting another career. I think we limit ourselves so much by fear and the need for security.”
For many people, however, the demands of the practical world intervene and dreams are set aside. It seems that only the lucky few can pursue a career or an ambition dear to their heart.
“You are so right,” desai replies, “and I thank God every day that I get to work in my field. It’s not easy, but it’s what I want to do.”
As for “Once on This Island”: “I just hope that the community at large will come out and support these young students because if you don’t support what you value, it may not be there. That’s important on every level, especially at this time and with what’s going on in our world.”
Once on This Island, with Michelle Zelina as Ti Moune and Jeffrey Hurley as Daniel, opens on Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Campus Theatre at El Camino College, on the corner of Crenshaw and Redondo Beach boulevards in Torrance. Also on Friday and Saturday (March 23, 24, 30 and 31) at 8 p.m., and on Sunday (March 18, 25, and April 1). Tickets, $25 general; $18 children 12 and under. Onsite parking, $2. Call (310) 329-5345 or go to centerforthearts.org.
